


Happy Valentine's Day

by Wesker20



Category: Fallen Hero Series - Malin Rydén
Genre: Cliche, F/M, Romance, Soft trash, first soft trash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:28:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22738045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wesker20/pseuds/Wesker20
Summary: Sidestep spends her valentine's day as she always spends all her days: with self loathing and thoughts of not being normal. Until she gets a call.
Relationships: Ortega/Sidestep (Fallen Hero), m!ortega/f!sidestep
Kudos: 7





	Happy Valentine's Day

**Author's Note:**

> This is part of a gift exchange done yesterday in valentine's day. My giftee told me I could share it so here it is. Enjoy my first soft fic.

You wake up for probably the tenth time now; the sun is out. Another night with barely any sleep. Either because of restlessness or bad dreams you couldn’t keep your eyes shut.

You don’t turn the lights on in the bathroom nor do you look at the mirror as you brush your teeth and enter the shower. You try your best to avoid looking at them, always raising your eyes and looking elsewhere while passing the soap through your body. You succeed for a couple of minutes. Until the surface of the tub and walls reflect back the light in them your eyes divert to them.

All over your body, wrapped around your arms and legs like snakes ready to squeeze the life out of you. _They already have_ _…_

You shake your head out of your trance and wipe the water from your cheeks to end your morning routine.

Today is a day you made no plans for. Why would you when you have nothing to celebrate. Everyone else planned something for today. Even Mortum said something about having a bourbon for himself today. He invited Aurelia over it but you said no. You wonder why but have no answer for it; and you don’t want to find it.

One small breath, that’s all it takes, one breath and closing your eyes before you find yourself in a different body. _A better body._ You prepare to put Aurelia through the same routine you just went through. Only this time you turned the lights on and washed on without a care in the world. Perfect. No scars, no wrinkles…

…no tattoos to spoil her. Just perfect. You smirk for a moment then your fist closes and now your pride in this body vanishes as you realize it’s not truly your body. It never will be. It’s just a puppet, an empty doll for you use. Nothing more, nothing less. _Why is she so much better?_ You bite your lip, your heart accelerates, and before you know it, your fist clashes with the mirror.

“Damn it!” you pull back and take a look at your hand. A bit bloody but nothing big. _Guess now she has at least one thing wrong._

Even without your telepathy to listen to others, the walk to the gym is annoying. Everywhere you go you see decorations. Hundreds of hearts strung up everywhere, in buildings, cars, even the car seats of babies are littered with the damn symbol. Red and pink dominate the color schemes everywhere and you notice dozens of people going into stores and coming out with enough boxes on their hands that they have to watch every step they take.

Couples are the worst though. They kiss and make out in the open as if nothing else in the world exists; they giggle and speak in hushed tones while laughing. You quicken your pace to the gym. You can’t get there soon enough.

You are relieved to find only one person in the gym and they seem to be finishing. You change and proceed to hit the bag.

Punch after punch come and go. The bag moves forward and backward as each punch lands harder than the last one. Your hurt hand hurts a little more but you keep going in spite of it. You stop for a moment. Just a moment. You look around to find that you are still alone. Still alone. No one in sight. You check the clock to find that you are well past the time you usually come here for. By this time the gym should be filled. _Probably out there, enjoying the life. This day. Hugging their friends and families. Their loved ones. Worrying about what to buy, what to wear, will their loved ones like the gifts or not. Day to day stuff. Stuff for this day. Normal stuff_ _… normal…_

You shake your head and go back to punching the bag. Much easier to just keep punching.

You lay Aurelia to rest and back to your body. Your real body. Not five minutes later you get a call. _Ortega?_ That’s surprising. Ortega has been out of the loop over the last month. ‘Too busy’ he said. You’ve been wondering what the hell he was up to all this time.

“What do you want Ortega?”

“Woah, a bit aggressive there, aren’t you?” you roll your eyes at that.

“It’s, what time, 7:00pm.”

“Still early.”

“Still late for me.”

“Alright, alright. Just wanted to talk to you.”

“Uhuh,” you say. _What is it about?_

“In person.” _What?_

“Why?”

“Nothing big. Just want to talk, that’s all.”

This doesn’t look good. Something must not be right. Maybe he found something in his investigation on Hollow Ground. Or maybe… maybe he found out about you? Maybe he knows you are Retribution. And if he did, he may be setting a trap. If it’s like that you have to act quick, you have to come up with a plan. Something to make sure you don’t get caught, something like-

“You still there?” his voice rips you out of your thoughts.

“Yes, Yes! I’m here. I’ll go.” _What! That wasn_ _’t what I wanted to say. Stupid Aeris._

“Great. Remember the park that was close to the old HQ? I’ll see you there.” He hangs.

_Damn it!_

You put on the first clothes you find, a long sleeve shirt, a hoodie, some pants and move on.

In the walk there you keep thinking about what could possibly be happening. All the worst things come to mind over and over again. Could be a trap, could be something dangerous, could be anything bad. Why would Ortega ask you to meet at the park in the night?

And your thoughts are suddenly invaded by other thoughts. You face palm as you realize you forgot to tune yourself out, to block your mind from other thoughts. You look around and find several couples, families, groups of friends, all of them smiling and laughing. Enjoying the day, this day that according to them is of love and friendship and some other stuff. Things you can’t have.

You shake your thoughts out and tune your mind off.

Finally you arrive at the park and you prepare for the worst. You scout it out, you reach out with your mind to sense others, you circle around, and find nothing. There’s people alright, but they are all normal people celebrating and spending time together, no problems, no ambushes, no strange looks.

“Sooo you gonna turn around anytime soon?” Ortega’s voice snap you out of your thoughts and you do as he says.

The first thing you notice is his hair and mustache are combed well. You can smell a bit of perfume and he’s dressed as if he was ready for a date or something. And he’s carrying a box shaped like a heart. _Oh. Oh no_ _…_

“Happy valentine’s day. Was wondering if you wanted to celebrate it with me.” He puts on his best smile, though there’s something different about this one. It’s not forced, nor meant to lift you up. It’s…

… _genuine._

And it hits you. He’s spent the last month preparing something for you. You don’t know what it is, but knowing Ortega… a lot of things. _Of course he was planning something like this. How could you be so stupid Aeris._

You open you mouth to say something but nothing comes out. You can’t accept this. You are not someone who does this sort of things. This sort of things are for others, for those who are born and raised, for those who have lived their entire lives here in the world. Not in some lab with a number as your name. You are not good enough for him. You are not even a real person you are just…

…you.

And you are the one person he decided to spend his time with. He could have just invited anyone, he could have just gone with the other rangers, you know rangers used to do something together, you were present in some of those. He could have even asked Aurelia. She is, after all, better than you in every conceivable way. She’s taller, prettier, outgoing, charismatic, the center of the room, all things you are not nor ever will be. And yet…

…here he is. With his stupid smile, his combed hair, and a box of chocolates that make him look more like a teenager than an actual adult.

It must have started raining as you feel your cheeks getting wet. You can feel yourself smiling a bit as you take a step forward. Whole, fulfilled, even if it is for a moment. For a day. The rest of the world doesn’t matter right now, just you two. Just this, this moment. No thinking about the worst, no thinking about how bad things could get in the future, no thinking on how this will affect your plans or not. None of that. Just this moment. Is this what others feel? Is this how others would feel? Or are you just thinking of an ideal? Maybe you are just imagining that this is how it feels. Either way, it doesn’t matter. Right now, it’s just you and you can’t deny you want this.

“…yes,” you say and you throw yourself into his embrace, hiding your face in his chest. “Happy valentine’s day.”


End file.
